In the most glorious day of Bangladesh history, a child named Khuka, full name Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was born in Tungipara, Gopalganj on March 17, 1920. Who knew that this child would one day grow up and make his debut as Bangabandhu, the liberator of subjugated Bengal for ages? Once the poet Tagore, out of his poetic feelings and emotions, expressed coming of a great man in his verse. This prophecy of Rabindranath came true when a sovereign state emerged with an independent nation and language under the leadership of Bangabandhu through the armed liberation war of 1971. After school life in Gopalganj, Madaripur and college life in Calcutta; Sheikh Mujibur Rahman came to Dhaka and was admitted to the Law Department of Dhaka University after the partition in August 1947. In ’48 the movement started demanding Bengali as the state language. This was the beginning of his long imprisonment. In 1949, he was expelled and arrested from Dhaka University for leading the fourth class workers’ movement, which lasted until the February 1952 language movement. He played an important role in the formation of “Rashtrabhasha Sangram Parishad” and “East Pakistan Muslim Chhatra League”. While imprisoned in 1949, he was elected joint secretary of the East Pakistan Awami Muslim League. The United Front formed under the leadership of Haq-Bhasani-Suhrawardy on the basis of 21 points in 1953 defeated the Muslim League in the 1954 elections. In this election he was elected a member of the East Bengal Legislative Assembly and was appointed a minister in the United Front government. But that government did not last more than two months.
In 1955, he was elected a member of the Constituent Assembly of Pakistan. In 1956, the Awami League government in East Bengal was formed under the leadership of Ataur Rahman Khan and a coalition government was formed at the center under the leadership of Hussain Shaheed Suhrawardy. He was a member of Ataur Rahman’s cabinet. The first constitution of Pakistan was adopted in 1956 during the tenure of the central government. East Pakistan and West Pakistan became two units. Majority of East Bengal was lost. Sheikh Mujibur Rahman did not sign the constitution in protest. Sheikh Mujib had been repeatedly arrested since the introduction of military rule in Pakistan. He was arrested in 1958 and released in 1959. He was re-arrested from Jail-gate after being sentenced to two years in prison in September 1960. He was arrested again in 1964. A sedition case was filed against him in July 1965. He was sentenced two years rigorous imprisonment under the Sedition and Public Security Act In 1966.
In 1966, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Syed Nazrul Islam and Tajuddin Ahmed were respectively elected as president, vice-president and general secretary of Awami League. Under his leadership the Awami League formed a movement to demand autonomy on the basis of 6 points. Sheikh Mujib started public meeting in favor of Six-points. In 1967, Sheikh Mujib was sentenced one month prison for making offensive remarks. On the first day of the New Year in 1968, the so-called Agartala conspiracy case was filed against 35 military and civilian citizens with Sheikh Mujibur Rahman as the main accused on the charge of ‘sedition’. A special tribunal was constituted on 21 April and the trial began in Dhaka Cantonment. From 18 January 1969, a procession was held in the educational institutions of East Pakistan violating Section 144. The movement turned into a ‘mass uprising’. Curfew was imposed in Dhaka from January 25. Demands for the release of Sheikh Mujib and the withdrawal of the ‘Agartala case’ erupted across the country. Tofail Ahmed, VP of DUCSU declared title of ‘Bangabandhu’ on behalf of all party Chhatra Sangram Parishad at the Racecourse Maidan on 23 February. Yahya Khan announced general elections in 1970. Under Bangabandhu’s leadership, the Awami League won 162 out of 300 general seats in parliament with the boat symbol. The Awami League won 288 of the 298 seats in the provincial council.
In a radio address on March 1, 1971, General Yahya Khan adjourned the forthcoming Constituent Assembly indefinitely. By the call of Bangabandhu an unprecedented non-cooperation movement started followed by nationwide strike on March 2, 3. The national flag of independent Bangladesh was hoisted at Dhaka University on March 2. In his historic speech on March 7 in the Racecourse, Bangabandhu declared to build forts in every house against the enemy and declared ‘this time the struggle is for our liberation, this time the struggle is for our freedom’. From March 7 to March 25, the non-cooperation movement continued on the one hand and Pakistan’s military campaign and preparations for genocide on the other.
From March 25, 1971, the war of liberation started. Bangabandhu’s trial has been shifted in a Pakistani military court on charges of treason. Before Yahya Khan signed the death sentence, 93,000 Pakistani soldiers fighting in Bangladesh were forced to surrender to the Allies and the Liberation Army at the Racecourse Ground in Dhaka on the afternoon of 16 December. Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was appointed the new president of Pakistan and he was compelled to release Bangabandhu due to international pressure. On 8 January, Bangabandhu left Rawalpindi for London. He then returned to Dhaka on 10 January via New Delhi.
Most countries of the world started to recognize Bangladesh under the leadership of Bangladesh. In September 1974, Bangabandhu attended the UN General Assembly session and delivered speech in Bengali. On the centenary of Bangabandhu’s birth, we remember with deep respect to Bangabandhu’s contribution to the creation of an independent state of Bangladesh. It is unfortunate that Bangabandhu was brutally killed on 15th August, 1975 along with his family members. Bangabandhu’s family has sacrificed for Bangladesh, a debt that this country and nation will never be able to repay. The tragic killing shocked the whole nation. Nation still mourns and highlights memorable events of his life, through which people are highly inspired for nation building activities. As a man and a leader, Bangabandhu is an ideal example. Death has made him more illuminating and immortal to nation and beyond nation.
(Dr Forqan is former Deputy Director General Bangladesh Ansar & VDP).
